A LIVING BRUSH STROKE ALONG THE LANDSCAPE

Some of the most striking gardens aren’t a riot of multiple colours but a carefully curated assemblage of hues. Using foliage and flowers, gardeners can create drama and artistry. A lake of blue salvia, perhaps. A swath of feathery green grass. The idea is to mass-plant so the colour becomes a living brush stroke along the landscape. Architect Peter Marino used the technique on his 12-acre property in Southampton, N.Y. His garden includes a “colour wheel,” with purple flowers at the north end, pink at the south, and red and mixed hues to the east and west. Yellow is off on its own. “The yellow garden is a separate, oneacre ‘room,’ bordered by European chestnuts and George Peabody arborvitae,” Marino writes in his new book, The Garden of Peter Marino (Rizzoli; $115).